Day #64 Grayleap Reading Challenge #Habits #Citizens #Blitzscaling
1) Daizy Patel reviews the 8th chapter of the book "Atomic Habits" (Author, James Clear)
Chapter 8 - HOW TO MAKE A HABIT IRRESISTIBLE
Today, we will start the second law, in which the author has explained the core of habit formation: DOPAMINE-DRIVEN FEEDBACK LOOP.
Every creature’s brain is preloaded with certain information, rules, and behaviors. When they encounter an exaggerated version of those rules, their brain lights up like a Christmas tree,?referred to as SUPERNORMAL STIMULI. According to the author, humans are no different, and as a result, we are often drawn to opportunities that promise extraordinary, satisfying results.
James has described the second law of behavior change as MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE by?James.?He claims that, while it is impossible to transform every habit into a supernormal stimulus, we can make habits more inciting by understanding what a craving is and how it works. He adds that if you want to increase the odds that a behavior will occur, you must work on making it attractive. To begin with, he has mentioned that all habits share a biological signature: the dopamine spike. The author mentioned an experiment in which rats lost interest in sugar after dopamine was blocked. This demonstrated that the ability to experience pleasure remained but that without dopamine, desire died, and action ceased. Hence, habits are dopamine-driven feedback loops.
Desire is the engine that drives behavior because every action is the anticipation of the experience that precedes it. It is the craving that leads to a response. Therefore, we need to make our habits attractive because the expectation of a rewarding experience?motivates us to act in the first place.
Here is where a strategy known as TEMPTATION BUNDLING comes into play. The syntax is :
After (current habit) I will (habit I need)
After (habit I need), I will (habit I want).
For example, after I get my morning coffee, I will say one thing I'm grateful for that happened yesterday.
After I say one thing I'm grateful for, I will read the news I want.
In a nutshell, TEMPTATION BUNDLING is one way to create a heightened version of any habit by connecting it with something you already want. Engineering a truly irresistible habit is a hard task, but this simple strategy can be employed to make nearly any habit more attractive than it would be otherwise.
---
2) Gaganpal Singh continues review of Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar (Author, Rohini Nilekani)
The basic premise of this book is that social change requires people to rise to the occasion. In other words, they can’t be mere consumers and commentators and let things roll over. Three important pillars of any growing country are the market, the government, and civil society (we the people). The last is the first when it comes to bringing change to society. Bazaar and Sarkar are the tributaries that feed into the river of society. I picked this book to augment my knowledge of the social sector and its prevailing aspects that impact me.?
Chapter 1 – Many questions for the dinner table
As disposable income in India rises due to double-engine growth, the variety of available food spoils consumers. The author exhorts us to pause, look at our plate filled to the brim, and ask questions.
领英推荐
How much should we eat? Should we eat whatever our budget allows and indulge in endless culinary delights? Why is obesity growing in India when starvation is still prevalent across states? What is the environmental impact of our splurge? Is organic superior to conventional?
Then it hit a chord when the author questioned farmers for sticking with conventional crops like wheat and rice and not trying other varieties like ragi. Have I deliberated on the reasons? Does the crop incentive system disincentivize them from growing other crops? Or is it peer pressure that stops them, or something else? This made me think about the quality of my dining table discussions, which are stale and trivial, where food is only consumed. It is time we deliberated these and many other issues about eating habits.
---
3) Amarendra S. continues his review of Part 3/6 of the book "Blitzscaling" (Authors, Reid Hoffmann & Chris Yeh)
PART 3: STRATEGY INNOVATION - A BIG NEW OPPORTUNITY
What could lead to massive success?
(a) a big new opportunity
(b) market size and gross margins can create huge value
(c) no dominant market or oligopoly
When video streaming became common, and cell phones could record video, YouTube could explode.
Alibaba was started in 1998 when there was no significant supply chain infrastructure. Yet, almost from the beginning, Jack Ma could raise $25 million from big players like SoftBank and Goldman Sachs. In 2004, series D raised $82 million. Yahoo put in $1 billion in 2005 (to sell it back later, which is another story). General Atlantic put $75 million in 2009. Its 2014 IPO raised $25 billion.
Alibaba's Taobao marketplace gave rise to countless merchants. The authors remind us:
"Some big opportunities are so enormous that they spawn secondary opportunities for blitzscaling."
Next, let us look at "first-scaler advantage."
---
Join Grayleap Bookclub https://grayleap.com/join/